778 



fell when he opened the first door. 

 Nearly all these effects, and a number 

 of others, were produced by comparative- 

 ly simple 

 means. It is 

 important 

 to have 

 someone in 

 charge of the 

 chamber 

 who can talk 

 — or whisper 

 h o a rse 1 y 

 and convinc- 

 ingly, in or- 

 der tomake a 

 pound of raw 

 beefsteak 

 and a chunk 

 of ice which 



Popular Science Monthly 



Fig. 1. In the arch under which the 



victim passed hung a human skull 



and cross-bones from a wire 



are used occasional!)' sufruiently terrible. 

 But, of course, the more mechanical 

 and electrical effects there are, the better. 

 All the electric shocks came from a 

 small but active induction coil operated 

 by three or four dry cells. One pole of 

 the coil was connected with fine wires 

 that suspended the skull outside the 

 entrance (Fig. I and I-ig. 2, A), with 

 the door-knob at the entrance (Fig. 2, 

 B), and with the one at the exit C. 

 The other pole was connected with a 

 luimber of steel door-mats properly 

 placed as D, E, and F. 



The flabby objects which strike the 

 victim's face are merely rubber football 

 bladders (hot-water bags would do as 

 well) kept moist, and 

 suspended from the ceil- 

 ing at the average height 

 of the face. They are 

 merely drawn back and 

 allowed to swing into the 

 face of the victims (Fig. 

 3). It was necessary to 

 use the scheme diagram- 

 med because every 

 movement of the phos- 

 phorescent hands was 

 ^•isible. 



The baby's skull was a 

 papier-mache candle- 

 shade picked up at a 

 ten-cent store. The il- 

 lusion of the crawling on 

 the lips was produced as 

 follows: The skull was 

 coated with tinfoil which 

 was connected with in- 

 sulated wires to one of the 

 poles on a medical coil, the 

 other pole of which was 

 attached to a metal floor- 

 plate located where the 

 victim would stand. The 

 coil was tuned down so low 

 that the shock could not 

 be felt in any other part 

 of the body except the 

 sensitive lips, and gave 

 them exactly the impres- 

 sion of numberless small 

 crawling objects. The 

 bright light which flashed 

 in the eves was merely a 

 pocket ' flashlight ; the 

 sounil which accompanied 



Fig. 2. Wiring diagram showing connec- 

 tions to the skull, doorknobs, plates, etc. 



il was made by a sharp blow with a 

 hammer on a jiiece of sheet-iron sus- 

 iKMuK-d from the n-iliiig. 



